Turret indexing machine for lamp base fillers and the like



C; O. MERCHANT June 21, 1960 TURRET INDEXING MACHINE FOR LAMP BASE FILLERS AND'THE LIKE Filed Aug. 4, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet l mm mm .H.

INVENTOR. CHESTER O. MERCHANT 7 2,941,553 TURRET INDEXING MACHINE FOR LAMP BASE FILLERS AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 4, 1958 June 21, 1960' c. o. MERCHANT 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I il IINVENTOR. cussraa o. msncunnr June 21 Aug F IG: 9

C. O. MERCHANT TURRET INDEXING MACHINE FOR LAMP BASE FILLERS AND THE LIKE lmiiit ml ii IHI . 3 Sheets-Sheet. 3

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INVENTOR. CHESTER o. mncmmr Un ted State 13 TURRET INDEXING MACHINE FOR LAMP BASE FILLERS AND THE LIKE Chester 0. Merchant, Harborcreek Township, Erie County, Pa., assignor to Swanson-Erie Corporation, Erie, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Aug. 4, 1958, Ser. No. 752,790

13 Claims. (Cl. 141-145) 'types of articles where small quantities of articles ofa particular size or shape are to be made at a given time. Previously, it was frequently necessary to completely clean out a cement tank and provide a different tank with a different size nozzle thereon each time the size of article to be processed was changed.

With the present invention, it is possible to remove "the cement tank and adapter nozzle without changing any of the remaining parts of the machine. This can be readily done by sliding the vertical columns on which the tank is slidably supported. At the same time, the turret plate can be removed by taking the lock nut off and the tank will be removed and replaced with a tank having a correct nozzle thereon to accommodate the next style base. The several tanks may be stored in a suitable storing means while a given one is in use. The machine further has a particular stop pin in its track for safety purposes and to stop the machine when a base is improperly fed. The height of the index plate can be varied by varying shims under the plateitself.

It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to provide an improved machine for depositing cement in a lamp bulb base and the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine having interchangeable cement tanks and nozzles for a cement dispensing machine.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved adjusting means for the index plate of a cement .dispensing machine.

A further object of the invention is to device in a cement dispensing machine.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide an improved cement tank support on a cement dispensing provide a safety machine wherein the tank is slidable up and down on changes may be made in the form, size, proportions, and minor details of construction without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention. 4 In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a rear view of a machine according to the invention; r

Fig. 2 is a side view of the machine shown in Fig. 1;

2,941,553 Patented June 21, 1960 Fig. 3 is a partial cross sectional view of the drive of the machine taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 4 is a top view of the machine with the cement dispensing means removed;

Fig. 5 is a top View of the machine showing the parts thereof in position;

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a front view of another embodiment of the machine with three hoppers and tracks supported thereon;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged top view of the machine shown in Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged top view of a part of the machine shown in Fig. 7; and

Fig. 10 is an enlarged view of a device for stopping the flow of articles down some of the tracks from the feeders While one of the feeders conducts parts.

Now with more particular reference to the drawings, a machine is shown having a base 19 with an indexing unit 11, a vibratory parts feeder 12, a hopper 13, and a cement dispensing tank 14 supported thereon. The .vibratory parts feeder 12, is of a type such as shown in Patent No. 2,609,914. The parts feeder 12 supplies parts, which may be in the form of incandescent lamp bulb bases, through a track 16 to the indexing unit 11. These parts will be properly aligned and fed with their open ends upward to the indexing unit 11 in a manner well known to those skilled in the art.

The hopper 13 is preferably in the form of an inverted frustum of a cone supported on the base 10 by means of vertically extending rod columns 17 which are fixed to the base it} at 18 and extend upwardly and are attached to outwardly extending ears 19 on the periphery of the hopper 13. The rod columns 17 are locked thereto by means of nuts 26. The parts feeder 12 is supported on the base 10 at 21 in fixed position thereon.

The cement tank 14 is supported on columns 22 which are supported in bosses of castings 23 which are in turn supported on the base 19. The columns 22 are fixed to the bosses of the castings 23 at 24. A top casting 25 and a bottom casting 26 of the cement tank 14 are bored to slidably receive the columns 22 and are vertically slidable thereon.

The top casting 25 and the bottom casting 26 of the cement tank 14 have a hollow drum 27 supported therebetween. The drum 27 is clamped to seal between the top casting 25 and the bottom casting 26 by means of bolts 28 which have nuts 29 thereon to hold the drum 27 in clamped relation between the top and bottom castings 25 and 26, respectively. The bottom casting 26 forms a bottom for the tank 14 and has a sump therein which terminates in a nozzle 29a which is provided with a suitable tip 33 for dispensing cement into the parts or articles to be filled.

The cement tank 14 is provided with a cover which is locked thereto. The cover 130, along with the bottom casting 26 and the drum 27, forms a compressed air chamber and air compressed therein will accumulate over the top of cement which may be received in the cement tank 14- and the compressed air forces the cement out through the nozzle 23a. When the nozzle 29a is open, the cement will be dispensed into an article supported thereunder.

The cement tank 14 is moved up and down by means of a connecting rod 31 which is connected to the bottom casting 26 of the tank 14 at 32 by means of a bolt 33 which is fixed to the bottom casting 26. The lower end of the connecting rod 31 is attached to ,a crank pin 34 of a crank 35 and the crank 35 is fixed to the end of a shaft 36. The shaft 36 has a crank 38 attached thereto at a spaced position from the crank 35 and the crank 38 has a follower 39 which engages a peripheral surface a s-tars 40 .of a cam 41. The cam 41 is fixed to a shaft 42 and rotates therewith.

The shaft 36 also has a crank 43 fixed thereto and the brank 43 has an adjustable pin '44 fixed to the distal end thereof which engages an adjustable pin 45 in a crank 46. The crank 46 is fixed to the end of a shaft 47 which is in turn journalled in bearings 48. The bearings 48 are in the form of pillow blocks which are fixed to a top plate 49 of the base 10. The shaft 47 has a detent 89 fixed thereto and the detent 80 is adapted to be swung into each notch 70 as a notched plate 66 is rotated to lock the notched plate 66 in position.

The indexing unit 11 is made up of a casting 50 which has an upwardly extending flange 51 and a lower flange 52. Thelower flange 52 is bolted to the base by means of countersunk bolts 53 and the upper flange 51 has a ring 54 attached thereto by means of bolts 55.

An anti-friction bearing 56 is disposed in a counterbore 57 and an anti-friction bearing 53 is disposed in a .counterbore 59. A shaft 60 has a bearing engaging nut .61 disposed thereon and a reduced sized portion 62 re- .ceives an index plate 63. A nut 68 holds the index plate 63 against the shoulder adjacent the reduced size portion 62.

.An enlarged collar 64 is fixed to the shaft 61) and is engaged by a stack of shims 65. Fixed on top of the plate 66 is not keyed but is held by frictional force between the shims 65 exerted by the nut 68 to the shaft 60 and in case a base becomes jammed between the plate 66 p and another part of the machine, the plate 66 will slip on In operation, a quantity of cup shaped lamp bases, for

example, are put in the hopper 13. The motor 73 is I connected to a suitable source of electricity. This will "drive the cam 41 at a constant rate and will rotate the plate 66 intermittently. At each intermittent rotation of.

the plate 66, another notch 79 therein will advance and another lamp base will be moved in the notch between an arcuate sheet 74 and the plate 66 toward the tip 30. As each part or lamp base pauses under the tip 30, the

' cement tank 14 will be lowered, the tip 30 will be in- --serted into the lamp base, and the tank 14 will deposit -cement therein.

As each base is filled, it will be advanced at th'e next intermittent movement of the plate 66 toward a discharge position 75 where the base will be received I in a-repository by way of a discharge track 76.

in the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 7 to 110, a machine 110 is shown having feeders 112, 212, and'312'supported thereon. A tank 114 is supported on a column 122 and two tanks 214 and 314, which are not *in use, are supported on columns 322 and'222 for use as stand-by tanks.

A turret indexing unit 111 is similar to the unit '11 in Figs. 1 to 6 and a track 176 is provided for discharging parts from the unit 111. The feeders 112, 212, and 312 discharge parts through tracks 116, 216, and 316 from a turret 166. Hoppers 113, 2.13, and 313 supply articles "to'the feeders 11 2, 212, and 312 in the same manner as the feeders supply articles in the other embodiment of the invention.

During operation, only one feeder will be used at any onetimeand two of the tanks, namely, the tanks 214 and .314, will be used as stand-by tanks. The tank 114 is ,shown in use .on the machine. The tracks of the two ,feederswhich are not in use will be'blocked so that only j m; feeder "feeds parts down its track, assuming he feedersxontains a different size of article. Therefore; in *ord'e r to' change -toa *different'size of the articles each of V ;-stack of shims 65 is the notched plate 66 which is clamped to the stack of shims 65 by means of a spacer 67 and the ;-nut 68 held in place by a lock washer 69. The notched bein dispensed it is merel n cess r o l the track which has been in use and unplug one'of the other tracks. The plugging and unplugging of the tracks is accomplished by a mechanism similar to that shown in Fig. 10 which is made up of a pin 85 supporting an upper part 86 and a lower part 87. The parts 86 and 87 are made s9 that the edges of the upper part 86 extend beyond the edges of and overlie the 'lower part 87 and, also, overlie the track which would normally carry a flanged article 913 manufacture. {The lower part 87 fits into a lower part '88 of the track. The mechanisms shown in Fig. 19 may be held in place by fitting them tightly into the track or by bolting them in .by providing threads on the ends of the pin 85.

During operatipn, the tank containing cement to be: dispensed will be supported as is the tank 114 and theother two tanks 214 and 314 will be at stand-by as shown on the respective columns 322-and 222. The tracks from the feeders 112, 212, and 312 which are notto feed articleswill be blocked. The feeder which is .to feed will have its track unblocked as the unit 111 indexes and articles will be moved under the dispensing nozzleapd cement will be dispensed thereinto as in the first embodimea f th s in ent on- The fo e o n spec c n t f r the nv nt on i .its preferred practical forms but the structure shown is capable of modification within a range of equivalents without departing from the invention which is to he ,un-

.derstood is broadly novel as is commensurate with the appended claims.

m im of he i n o which n @1 sive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: I H

'1. A machine for depositing a ring of cement like material around the inside surface of articles of manufacture comprising a container for said material, spaced vertically extending column members on said machine, said container being slidably supported ,on said column members,

a round fdisk like plate supported on said machine, said plate having spaced notches in the periphery thereof, an

arcuate confining ring, said ring being disposed adjacent said plate and concentric thereto, means to feed cup shaped articles of manufacture and deposit one said article in each said notch between said plate and said confining ring, means to move said plate intermittently to bring each said article fed from said means .to feed atticles into a said notch to a second position below said container, means operatively connected to said container i to lower said container to bring a nozzle thereon into the article thereunder with said nozzle concentric to the *in- -side of said article, and dispensing means on said machine tocause said container to dispense material in ring like form around the inside surface of each said article .as said articles pass below said container.

2. The machine recited in claim 1 wherein saidc'ontainer'is slidable on said column members to remove said container therefrom whereby said container and nozzle thereon will be replaced by another container having a nozzle of another size.

3. The machine recited in claim 1 wherein -a stop pin is provided, and means on said machine brings -'said stop pin into engagement with notch means on said machine to hold said plate in position while material is being deposited. I

4. The machine recited in claim 3 wherein saiclmeans to move said plate intermittently comprises an indexing mechanism, said indexing mechanism havinga vertically extending shaft, said plate-being attached to said'shaft to rotate therewith, said plate being attached to said shaft *by means of ahole centrally located in said plate, said shaft extending through said hole, a nut on saidf'Shaft above said plate, and a plurality of washers on -said shaft -below sai'd pl'ate, said nut clamping said plateibetween it and said washers, said washers being removable toaadiust the height'of said .plate :relative to said. container.

5. A machine for depositing cement in cup shaped articles comprising a vertically disposed shaft, an index plate having a plurality of follower members on the lower end of said shaft, a crossover cam selectively operatively engaging said follower members, a motor driving said crossover cam, an upwardly facing shoulder on said shaft, shim washers on said shaft resting on said shoulder, a round plate on said shaft having notches thereon, a nut on the upper end of said shaft clamping said round plate between it and said shim washers, spaced, vertically extending columns on said machine, a cement tank having dispensing means thereon removably and slidably supported on said columns, a segment of a ring disposed on said machine concentric to the periphery of said round plate and in spaced relation thereto, said tank having a nozzle disposed above the periphery of said round plate and said ring, means to feed articles to one of said notches at one position, said articles being intermittently moved by said index plate to bring said articles into operative relation with said tank, crank means, one end of said crank means being attached to and actuated by said crossover cam and the other end thereof being attached to said tank moving said tank out of engagement with said articles during the time said index plate is moving said articles, and means to actuate said dispensing means to dispense cement into each said article.

6. The machine recited in claim wherein said round plate may be removed and plates having different sizes of notches are provided, said tank is removed, and additional tanks are provided having other size nozzles thereon to fill other sizes of articles.

7. The machine recited in claim 6 wherein said means to feed articles comprises a vibratory parts feeder having a track for delivering parts therefrom to said round plate and track means is provided spaced from said parts feeder track for transmitting articles from said round plate.

8. The machine recited in claim 7 wherein said crank means actuated by said crossover cam has means thereon engaging said round plate to lock it against rotation while said tank is lowered into engagement with said articles.

9. The machine recited in claim 6 wherein a lever is swingably attached to said machine, spring means urges said lever toward said index plate, said index plate being held out of each said notch in turn by articles supported therein, said lever moving into one said notch if an article is missing therefrom, stopping said index plate from further rotation.

10. The machine recited in claim 1 wherein three said means to feed articles are provided, each said means comprising a parts feeder having a discharge track thereon connected to said machine to feed articles to deposit articles in one said notch of said plate, and means on said machine to selectively block the track of each of said feeders whereby one said feeder may be allowed to feed articles to said track at on time.

11. The machine recited in claim 1 wherein three said means to feed articles of manufacture and deposit them in each said notch between said plate is provided, and means on said machine to selectively block the discharge track of each of said means whereby any two of said means may be prevented from supplying articles to said notches.

12. The machine recited in claim 6 wherein three sets of said columns are provided on said machine, two sets of said columns being adapted to support two tanks like said tank during periods when the two said tanks are not in use.

13. The machine recited in claim 6 wherein three sets of said columns are provided to support two additional said cement tanks and to receive said cement tank when one of said additional tanks is in use on said machine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

